Thunder Bay Iceboat Training

January 4, 2023

Thunder Bay’s first annual iceboat training event was held on the last weekend of November. Spearheaded by the aptly named Dave Frost, the event attracted four out of town sailors joining the local contingent.

The training included of three days of sailing, fitness, and nutrition. The on-ice portion was broken down into starting, mark roundings, boat handling and short course racing. Each day we were greeted with great ice and nice winds.

The training days began with an early rise with stretching and fitness component lead by my wife Pam followed by a very nutritional breakfast. All three days, we were on the ice by 9:00 am and finished up by sunset. We logged up to 50 miles of ice each day.

After a nourishing supper, we gathered around and did some video analysis of the day with lots of tactical discussion and banter.

All in all, the event was a huge success; the participates all left feeling more confident in their boat handling and faster. Thanks goes out to all the participates especially to Paul Chambers and Martha Croafdale for travelling so far. Hope to see everyone again next year for some early season training.

– Mike Madge